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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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What’s Rubio’s secret?

Message of optimism differs from other GOP presidential hopefuls

The Columbian
Published:

More than other 2016 presidential entrants, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., seems to have positively affected, even excited, Republicans. Ross Douthat writes, “Rubio more than most candidates fits the way most Republicans want to think about their party and ideology and cause.” There is much to that, and certainly Republicans want to get away from the dig that they are “grumpy,” “angry” or downright “mean.” So how does Rubio do it?

Arthur Brooks, head of the American Enterprise Institute and arguably the godfather of reform conservatism, likes to say: “My movement shouldn’t be fighting against things. My movement should be fighting for people.” Rather than rail against government, against liberalism, against “the liberal welfare state,” Republicans need to remember that people want politicians to fight for people like them. Brooks wrote in the Wall Street Journal:

“Some say the solution for conservatives is either to redouble the attacks on big government per se, or give up and try to build a better welfare state. Neither path is correct. . . .

“Instead, the answer is to make improving the lives of vulnerable people the primary focus of authentically conservative policies. For example, the core problem with out-of-control entitlements is not that they are costly — it is that the impending insolvency of Social Security and Medicare imperils the social safety net for the neediest citizens. Education innovation and school choice are not needed to fight rapacious unions and bureaucrats — too often the most prominent focus of conservative education concerns — but because poor children and their parents deserve better schools.”

Whether consciously or not, that is what Rubio is doing. His announcement speech was devoid of attacks on “the establishment.” He was not arguing against things; he was arguing for people:

“My father was grateful for the work he had, but that was not the life he wanted for his children. He wanted all the dreams he once had for himself to come true for us. He wanted all the doors that closed for him to be open for me.

“My father stood behind a small portable bar in the back of a room for all those years, so that tonight I could stand behind this podium in the front of this room. That journey, from behind that bar to behind this podium, is the essence of the American Dream.”

That is arguing for people. And it turns out, it is inspiring and timely. For all the talk about anger and mistrust of government, voters don’t want to believe evil forces (government, congressional leaders, Big Business, immigrants) are out to get them. It’s scary and it’s exhausting being against all that, and it leaves one empty and depressed.

Rubio’s message of optimism, success, opportunity and dignity is timely and a change from vague appeals to entrepreneurism and sterile lessons in market economics and the Founders.

You would think all politicians would get this, but Rubio is unique in the field so far.

Jeb Bush correctly analyzes our challenges and promises the “right to rise,” but we don’t hear so much about the people who are rising. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker beat the teachers union, but people need to hear about the students’ lives who were changed by better schools. And from Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, we get a dystopian nightmare (the government is listening to your calls, getting ready to grab your guns, etc.) Venting is cathartic but leaves you deflated.

Rubio’s policies are no less conservative than other Republicans, but he grounds them in moral terms. We owe it to the next generation. We need to help those seeking the American dream. It is not the language of liberalism, which says the government will tend to your every need, nor is it the sound of libertarianism indifferent to the outcomes of the free market. In Arthur Brooks’ terms, it is the language of “earned success” — a call for all Americans to create their own version of the American dream.


Jennifer Rubin writes for The Washington Post.

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